Spindle Temp

[Simops]

Greetings to all for The festive season......

Did a search but not the answer I was looking for so here's my concern....

First time doing 3D cutting and with the longer (4 hrs +) machining time I find that my 2.2hp spindle gets hot...very hot (so it seems to me not knowing any better).....the temp is such that I can't leave my hand on the spindle body for more than a few seconds.

Is this normal??

Cheers

MT

[Bob Eustace]

Mike you could come up the hill and feel Russels and ours. You might be running faster than needed or not roughing etc. Email your file and I'll see what happens on ours. Dont forget it was 40 degrees at the airport today. Our workroom is air conditioned. Russell just cut 6 rocking horses with no probs. We are doing 3D in eastern mahogany tonight and only warm to the touch with workshop 20 degrees.

[Simops]

Hey Bob......I was cutting the Vetric free Christmas Wreath as a practice project and as a gift . Stock standard as given in imperial. Same tools and all I did was re-calculate the toolpahs and run it. Workshop temp was 30 deg Celsius so not overly hot. After the initial roughing and then into about Halfway through smoothing the temp is to high to hold hand on spindle for more than 8-10 secs. With 2d cutting (what I do mostly) always cool to the touch.

Just want to make sure I'm not causing damage by continuing or whether I should pause and cool spindle down.

Cheers

[Bob Eustace]

Yes that does sound too hot. Have you tried using the warm up routine? Could be an idea to PM Andrew as he has the Buddy and works it harder than Mikes files.

[garyc]

Michael...
Can you verify if the spindle cooling fan is operational?

Also, the HSD spindles have a thermister in them that will stop the spindle AND display an error code if they do overheat.

[Brady Watson]

.....the temp is such that I can't leave my hand on the spindle body for more than a few seconds.

Is this normal??


Have you tried checking the temp with the soft skin of your inner wrist? How long can you keep it on there? :D

Yes...they get hot - so don't worry - as long as the cooling fan is turning as it should. Steppers also get hot when they are doing a lot of work or run for a long time, especially on gantry machines...Got the belly burns to prove it! :eek:

-B

[Ajcoholic]

Mine gets pretty hot when I'm pushing it hard. But I have the 4hp spindle so relatively speaking, if we're cutting the same thing, mine is working less hard than the 2.2hp which I believe you guys are using? Mines never been too hot to touch ( uncomfortable yes) even when I'm carving for hours.

[myxpykalix]

Michael,
I don't have a spindle but a router and it's funny how on some occassions i might cut a file for 10 minutes and the router would be so hot it would burn you to the touch, then i might do a 3d cut for 6-8 hours and it be barely warm.
Doesn't happen often and not enough to draw any kind of correlations :confused:

[Simops]

Thanks for all your comments.....conclusion appears to be that as long as the Spindle does not overheat and shut-down its fine to continue without long term damage.

Interestingly I can do quite a bit of 2D cutting and barely warm....do a 3D project and it's too hot to touch!!

Last query is this.....when my spindle is hot I get coolish air coming out of the fan on top but at the bottom corners of the aluminium spindle body I get hot air blowing out.....that's correct....right?

Anyhow it's Christmas tomorrow....time to clean-up the Shop and close down until Thursday:p

Merry Christmas to you All, every single one of you :)

[Bob Eustace]

Mike, suggest you check that your Kent shoe isnt pushed all the way up on the shoulder of the spindle. This will block the air flow down to zero. We have a half inch gap and never touch it.

Gary
When the thermister cuts in is there anything on the SB3 screen to alert you suchbas the RPM window? I ask this because the controller on the Buddy is buried underneath and its hard for those with crook backs to see.

Thanks

[gerryv]

Mike, suggest you check that your Kent shoe isnt pushed all the way up on the shoulder of the spindle. This will block the air flow down to zero. We have a half inch gap and never touch it.

Excellent point Bob, thanks for the insight.

[Simops]

Hi Bob,

Regards your two questions:
1. Yes I always do a spindle warm up routine...without fail.
2. Yes my Kent shoe attachment base is down as low as I can get it and not obstructing the spindle vent.

Are you getting coolish air blowing up from the top fan and warm(hot) air blowing out from the bottom corners?

Cheers

[Bob Eustace]

Mike we get cool at the top and warm on the bottom. The fan runs clockwise when you look down from the top. I think with this type of query you can only trust the experts - in this case Gary and Brady. I believe these guys 101%. My personal view of your problem is you havent given the machine a lot of use even though its older than ours. We use the bot everyday. The heat in my view is just newness and I reckon it will reduce all by itself once its run in. Had a Mercedes that drove me bonkers. Temp gauge used to go up as soon as a hill came into view. They replaced everything to no avail. Guess what - it went away as the miles increased. Of course they have now removed the gauge on most cars just for worrying idiots like me!

[Simops]

You're right Bob don't use the Bot as much as I'd like to! Certainly not daily. So maybe you're right I'm just panicking for no reason! Long as no damage is being done I'm happy....hate to be replacing one of those suckers anytime soon :D

Cheers

[ssflyer]

With my 2.2 spindle, the fan blows down, and it never gets too hot to touch - even after hours of either 2d or 3d...

[Simops]

Mmmmmmmm.....now I'm worried again:eek:

I think I'll contact SB and discuss with them.....

MT

[Ajcoholic]

Mmmmmmmm.....now I'm worried again:eek:

I think I'll contact SB and discuss with them.....

MT

Mike sometimes I think we tend to worry about these things more than we should. And everyone's idea of what's hot an vary very much. Take that for what it's worth...

[Brady Watson]

Mike sometimes I think we tend to worry about these things more than we should. And everyone's idea of what's hot an vary very much. Take that for what it's worth...

X2

You have to take things to the limit and ask yourself what the worst case scenario is...No matter what, the spindle has no warranty, and they don't rebuild these HSDs...So run it and keep running it until it no longer turns. It makes no sense to torture yourself over it. They all run hot when worked - and that's what they are there to do. If you are really concerned, start a 'spindle kiddie' and throw in a few bucks from each job. Then buy a Colombo.

-B

[cnc_works]

Mike, I have had a 2.2hp Elte for the last 5 years. It has gotten very warm to the touch, almost too hot to hold on to comfortably (something like 110F), but the specs say that it can get a lot hotter, (my memory says 134F) before I should worry. Been doing that since it was new. I have a 1.2hp on my smaller cnc that definitely gets too hot to hold on to, but never approaches the mfgs limit.

Don't know how this compares, but it is my experience.